Conventional vehicular headlight axis control devices are disclosed in JP-A-H3-14742, JP-A-S64-74133, JP-A-H8-301005, and JP-A-2002-178829.
In JP-A-H3-14742, an irradiation angle of a headlight is appropriately set based on a control map corresponding to a setting position of a steering wheel.
In JP-A-S64-74133, of a headlight (lighting means), an irradiation orientation changing operation interlocked with steering of a steering wheel is suppressed within a given steering angle with respect to a steering position in rectilinear traveling of a vehicle.
In JP-A-H8-301005, when an irradiation angle of a headlight is interlocked with a steering angle, a changing rate of irradiation angle to the steering angle is controlled so as to become small or large in an area where the steering angle is small or large, respectively. Here, an angle variation of the headlight with respect to a steering variation can be decreased during the rectilinear traveling, resulting in prevention of troublesomeness. Further, when a vehicle turns around a curve, a traveling direction can be irradiated according to steering of a steering wheel. It is described that this leads to obtaining preferable visibility and results in preventing a driver from being bothered by a feeling of strangeness.
In JP-A-2002-178829, when an irradiation axis of a headlight is controlled for being swiveled based on a change rate of a steering angle of a steering wheel, its responsiveness can be changed so as to preventing a driver from being bothered by a feeling of strangeness.
The above disclosure can be effective in a change of a steering angle due to sway of a steering wheel during the rectilinear traveling of a vehicle. However, it cannot be responsive to sway of the steering wheel during the turning of the vehicle, still involving not a little feeling of strangeness of a driver.